We Are Phantoms

by DarkFoxKit

The sequel to My Brother's a Ghost. "My name is Andrew Fenton, but call me Andy. I'm a 14 year old boy, twin brother of Danny Fenton. If I had known what kind of fate awaited me in the future... I probably would've freaked out. My brother and I, we're more than teenagers... we are heroes, we are defenders. We are Phantoms."

95. Chapter 94: A Page in a Clock

DarkFoxKit: *Rubs her head a little* Alright, time for some fun-

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': *Rushes over and starts checking Fox from head to toe* Fox, are you alright? You had me worried! I didn't sleep at all last night!

DarkFoxKit: Onyx! Will you calm down? I'm fine, alright?

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': You were in the hospital! I want to make sure you really are as fine as you say you are!

DarkFoxKit: The doctors said I'm fine. I know I gave you a bit of a scare when I fainted a few times, but I'm okay now. I was able to sleep just fine, and I'm not dizzy or anything. So can you please stop checking me every time you see me? It's only been 5 minutes since the last time you checked on me.

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': O-okay… I'll stop checking you over. But… have you taken your meds? Can I get you something to drink? Perhaps a pillow? Would you like some snacks? I can go get a movie for you to watch!

DarkFoxKit: … I'm not crippled, Onyx.

Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Just because you aren't crippled or seriously injured doesn't mean I can't take care of you. Now, give me a moment and I'll go get some tea and cookies for you. Tonight we'll be having yummy steaks, as your doctor said you should eat more red meat. Don't worry though, I'll cook it up to your preference. *Rushes off before Fox can say anything back*

DarkFoxKit: … Well… if she's insistent on spoiling me for a few days, I might as well enjoy it. *Looks at the audience* What? Don't tell me you wouldn't take advantage of this situation either if you were in my paws. Anyways, you all go ahead and read the chapter while I relax.

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Chapter 94: A Page in a Clock

Juliette and I were looking around, seeing that we were surrounded by these eyeball people wearing cloaks. They had no face other than that giant eye, so it was difficult to tell what they were thinking. But they seem to be annoyed at best, or angry at worst.

"Of course one of the anomalies is that abomination hybrid child!" One of them spat in anger, looking directly at me.

"What are these guys' problem?" I whispered to Juliette.

"They're called the Observants…" Juliette quietly informed. "They are essentially time police in a sense. They track down anomalies and capture them to be studied… at least that's what they say they do. From what I have heard of my time in our Ghost Zone, they make people disappear. As a side note, Clockwork works for them… and our version of them have tried to recruit me before."

"These are the Observants?" I blinked in surprise. Well… their names check out with those giant eyeballs...

"Yeah… they're very dangerous, hence why I told you to hold on," Juliette responded, her eyes still darting around. "We're currently anomalies in their world, meaning it's their job to capture us."

One of the Observants floated closer to us, making me stiffen. He, at least I think it's a 'he', held out what appeared to be some kind of fancy looking scroll, and rolled it down.

"Anomalies, by order and law of the very Existence itself, you are hereby under arrest and to be brought to court, and to justice, for coming into our reality and violating the order of nature," The Observant stated in a 'high and mighty' tone, he also sounded a bit too happy about this.

"Juliette… we can't let them take us to court," I whispered.

"I had no plans on letting them," Juliette softly assured before she looked at the Observants and spoke up in a nervous tone. "Hi, yes… I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this… but we won't actually be going with you…? We kinda have something important to do and you capturing us would put our world in danger…"

"We do not listen to convicts," The Observant stated firmly.

"Are you sure?" Juliette sheepishly asked.

"Yes! Now you can come quietly or we will have to drag you to court ourselves," The Observant answered.

"So… you won't listen if I tell you to close your eyes?" Juliette questioned, looking at me and tightening her grip a little.

I quickly shut my eyes, figuring that she was also warning me.

"No, we won't," The Observant sternly replied. "Do you really think we would just- AGH!"

Even with my eyes closed, I could see a bright burst of light. I then suddenly felt my arm being pulled.

"Hopefully that'll keep them stunned for long enough… though…" Juliette responded in a worried tone. "If it doesn't, they might be able to catch up to us quickly. I can't fly as fast while dragging you behind me, Andy."

"What did you do back there?" I asked as I opened my eyes again, seeing Juliette pulling me through the Ghost Zone.

"I quickly created a ball of fire and expanded it at a rapid rate. This caused it to become unstable and explode into light," Juliette answered. "That blast of light blinded the Observants, giving us the opportunity to flee."

That was clever on Juliette's part, but now those Observants will be out for blood and ectoplasm once they recovered. And Juliette had never been the fastest flyer in our group, and with her needing to drag my dead weight around, they were very likely to catch up to us. I shut my eyes to try and get my core to transform so I could fly as well. But when I tried to force the transformation, I just felt a stinging pain in my core. I let out a small yelp as I grabbed onto my chest.

Darn it… I still can't transform! I hissed.

Chad felt concerned and frustrated.

I looked back and noticed with dread that the Observants were already chasing us. They had recovered rather quickly for having just a giant eyeball for a face. The Observant with the scroll earlier was leading the charge, which led me to believe he was their leader.

"You cannot escape justice!" The Observant shouted as he and the others were closing in on us.

"Your sense of justice will doom another world if you capture us!" Juliette shouted back. "Please! Just forget we exist!"

The Observants responded by shooting a ghost ray at us. There were so many of them firing at us that Juliette couldn't possibly dodge them all, even if she went intangible. Juliette let out a high pitched squeal as she was hit by one of the ghost rays from behind and started falling.

"Don't let them get away!" I heard one of the Observants ordering the others as Juliette and I were falling.

I held onto Juliette's hand tightly as I pulled her closer to me. "Juliette! Are you awake?"

"Yes… but that hurt so much…" Juliette responded through clenched teeth as she recovered and started to move forward again.

I gritted my teeth as I tried to wrack my brain to figure out what to do, Chad's own worries and anxiety were increasing as well. If only Danny or Scarlet were here, they would… wait… Scarlet… there has to be a Scarlet in this dimension, right?

"Juliette, try calling out for Scarlet!" I quickly suggested to her.

"What? I don't know if that would work…" Juliette responded in a doubtful tone.

"You have to try! Just because we didn't see a you here doesn't mean a you doesn't exist here, and that means Scarlet should also exist in this reality! She will heed your call if she does, you have nothing to lose from this!" I urged, looking up to see the Observants closing in on us.

"Are you sure…?" Juliette hesitantly asked.

"Trust me, Juliette," I said, looking directly into Juliette's eyes. This wasn't the time to argue, and if Scarlet does exist here, she will be our saving grace.

Juliette gave a tiny nod before she took a deep breath. "SCARLET! PLEASE HELP! I'M IN DANGER AND THERE ARE GHOSTS HURTING ME!"

It was loud, like unnaturally so. I felt some kind of energy vibration going through me and the entire area of the Ghost Zone. It was similar to Danny's Ghostly Wail, but not as damaging or loud, the energy wasn't powerful enough to be seen visibly, only felt.

Juliette and I waited for a few seconds, hoping that Scarlet heard her and would come to her rescue. The Observants were starting to surround us again. I was starting to lose hope as the seconds ticked by and still no knight in shining armor.

"Seems we will be losing Freakshow's game…" Juliette meekly said, sounding depressed and defeated.

Suddenly, there was a burst of energy out of nowhere. My eyes went wide when I saw a portal suddenly ripping open right before me. A knight clad in familiar white armor came through the ripped portal. Juliette and I stared in shock, our brains not catching up to what was happening before our eyes. The knight suddenly created hundreds of energy spears right under all the Observants that had us surrounded before they jabbed up. The Observants let out screeches of pain as many of them were just skewered. Though I could see they were regenerating quite quickly, so they wouldn't die from this, if they even could. The knight looked at us for a second before we were suddenly in their arms. I blinked one second, and the next, Juliette and I were being carried away from the recovering Observants.

"T-thank you, Scarlet…" Juliette softly muttered. "And… I should apologize because I'm not… your Juliette."

"I do not care if you are the Juliette from this reality or another one, you are still my princess, Juliette, and it is my duty to keep you safe," Scarlet said firmly.

"Well… thank you again. And could you actually take us towards this world's Clockwork's tower?" Juliette requested. "Of course… if that wouldn't be a bother to you."

"Before I do that, I must ask… what are you two doing here? You're not the Juliette from this reality, and this human boy shouldn't be here," Scarlet asked, her helmet head looking at me.

"We're caught up in a shadow game with a madman. If we don't win the game, then our entire reality will be under his command," I explained grimly. "That's why we need to get to Clockwork, there's a page in his domain that we need to collect in order to find this madman and win this game. But we lose if we get captured by important or certain people from this reality."

Juliette gave a nod. "What he says is the truth. If we lose at any point in this game, then our reality will likely be subjugated… and he did seem to have a keen interest in making me something subservient…"

I could hear Scarlet growling from within her helmet. "I will get you to Clockwork's tower, but… I will warn you, it will not be easy to get in without his permission, not even for me. He is an Ancient, one of the oldest ones, to exist. He is also the Master of Time. It would be foolish to try to use brute force on him, even being sneaky is foolish."

"He… might know we're on the way right now…" I frowned.

"Maybe, maybe not. I can't say for sure if Clockwork can see anomalies, by that I mean people from a different time and reality here," Scarlet replied. "We'll just… have to try and see. I will help you find the page as much as I can, but that is all I can do. You two will have to get to the page yourselves."

Juliette gave a small quiet nod. "I believe that would be best…"

Scarlet began to fly us to Clockwork's tower. I couldn't help but feel nervous, I normally liked seeing Clockwork, but considering the circumstances, I was now dreading the idea of being around the Master of Time. He would catch us before we even had time to explain the situation. I felt Chad was just as worried about I was.

"So…" Juliette suddenly spoke up, which surprised me since I was getting myself ready for what we needed to do once we reached our destination. "Scarlet… have you ever found this reality's version of me?"

"I… have not, not yet," Scarlet answered after a few moments of thought. "I have found traces of her, but I have yet to truly find her. I hope she is safe and well."

"If she is like me, then she is probably overcoming the challenges that come at her," Juliette assured.

"If she was able to survive 1400 years on her own, I think she'll be fine now until you, or someone trustworthy, finds her," I added.

"I hope you are right, child," Scarlet answered back.

The rest of the trip was quiet, and a little bit tense. I was nervous, but I knew Juliette was likely screaming silently due to the fact we would have to go into Clockwork's tower, a place she had been trying to avoid for eons.

Before long, we could see the tower on the horizon. The tower suddenly looked much larger and more ominous the closer we got. I tried to feel for my core again, hoping it had recovered enough to let me use my ghost form, but I was met with the same result as my last few attempts. I guess trying to force it to make me go ghost earlier damaged the recovering process. I just hope I didn't permanently damage it.

Scarlet stopped as she floated just above Clockwork's tower. "We are here…"

"Thank you once again, Scarlet." Juliette smiled. "Thank you for showing up and helping us. Hopefully we didn't create any problems for you going forward."

"I might be on the Observants' wanted list, but if I was able to protect you from them, princess, then I do not care," Scarlet answered.

"I think we better be careful around our Observants too if they're anything like the Observants here." I frowned.

Scarlet looked at the tower. "Do you have any specific areas you want me to drop you off in? I can't phase through someone else's domain without permission."

"There… aren't many places to be dropped off in other than the front door or the closed balcony," I answered softly. How are we going to get in?

"There is a balcony garden just over there," Juliette pointed out. "Perhaps that could be an entrance?"

"A balcony garden?" I blinked in surprise before looking to where Juliette was pointing to. "Huh… I didn't know Clockwork kept a garden. I don't think my Clockwork did."

"Perhaps this world's Clockwork picked it up as a hobby?" Juliette offered. "Whatever the case may be, I won't look a gift horse in the mouth."

Scarlet quietly landed onto the garden balcony and put us down.

"I can't go in with you, Clockwork will notice me for sure. I will stay out here in case you need me, princess," Scarlet stated. "And if I don't see you again, then I know you were either successful or… well, I prefer not to think of the alternative."

Juliette and I nodded in agreement.

"Thank you, Scarlet." I bowed in gratefulness.

"I will give you one piece of advice in return for helping us, Scarlet. Look for your Juliette in places that would be good to hide. If she's in the same situation that I was in, she's running and trying to hide from those that want to hunt or capture her," Juliette advised.

Scarlet nodded. "I thank you for your advice, my princess, I hope to be successful in finding my Juliette."

I looked over at Juliette before both of us nodded, we waved to Scarlet one more time before we headed towards the door that would lead us inside. I hesitantly grabbed onto the door's handle and opened it. I sighed silently in relief. At least we know Clockwork is less on guard with this garden balcony.

Juliette was giving me a comforting look, though I could tell there was some nervousness behind her expression. I held out a hand to her, hoping that if we held on to each other, there was less of a risk we would get separated. Juliette smiled a little as she took my hand, the surprising warmth coming from her helped ease some fears I didn't even realize I was feeling.

Juliette and I made our way down the corridor that seemed much larger than I remembered. I suppose it would feel that way since we were walking on foot instead of flying around.

"Where is the most important part of the tower?" Juliette whispered. "I feel like that might be a possible place that Freakshow may put the page."

I frowned as I thought about what I knew of Clockwork's tower. "The most important part of the tower that I know of is the top, where Clockwork keeps most of his time windows to keep watch of the living world's progress. But I haven't been through most of the tower myself, so I can't say for sure if that's the case."

"Then maybe we should head to the top," Juliette suggested. "If we can't find the page there, then maybe we could somehow use the time window to see where Freakshow put the page."

"I guess… if we can use it." I frowned.

Both of us quickly and quietly looked around for the stairs, but something was off.

"I… can't find the stairs… it shouldn't be that difficult to find," I hissed, getting worried and frustrated.

Chad was also feeling frustrated, which added to my own frustration.

"That's… not good…" Juliette frowned before she glanced behind us. "Uhh… where did the hallway go?"

I turned around and jumped, seeing that the hallway behind us was just a single room now. "... Either the domain is shifting on its own, or…" Clockwork knows we're here.

Juliette looked forward. "I… think it is… because there's now only a wall in front of us and that door behind us…"

"Okay… this is bad," I gulped, feeling a bit of panic trying to come up.

"Don't freak out, Andy," Juliette quietly ordered. "We haven't been caught yet and I doubt Clockwork would make us lose. Since this is Clockwork's domain, it wouldn't want to trap us either and make us lose. And if you think about it, Clockwork would likely be aware of Freakshow's game. Perhaps… what if he's trying to help us?"

"That's assuming a lot of things," I responded, looking around. Now I know what it feels like to be in a haunted house.

"I would rather assume those things than tire myself out by panicking," Juliette explained.

I let out a sigh. "You're right… I need to stay calm. Perhaps the domain just shifts on its own from time to time… I mean Clockwork shifts between ages all the time."

Since we couldn't go any further in our current direction, Juliette and I, very carefully and hesitantly, walked into the room. It surprised me to see that it looked like a living room, or I guess, a sitting room. There was a couch, a coffee table, an armchair, a nice looking flower rug on the floor, and a TV in front of the couch and coffee table. It was surprisingly ordinary and modern. It was definitely not something I expected to find in Clockwork's tower.

Then there were sudden footsteps coming from somewhere. It couldn't be Clockwork, he didn't have any feet last I checked, but it put me and Juliette on guard regardless.

"Juliette… can you turn both of us invisible?" I whispered, hearing the footsteps coming closer.

"It will be draining, but I should be able to spread my invisibility to you," Juliette quickly answered as she turned herself invisible.

I watched as my fingers turned invisible, then my whole hand, and the invisibility spread to the rest of my body.

Not long after Juliette managed to turn both of us invisible, I could see someone coming into the living room from a set of stairs. I was surprised to see it was Danny in his human form, I noticed that Chad felt shocked, even more so than I was. Neither Juliette nor I moved as Danny walked into the living room and sat down on the couch.

"Grandpa?" Danny asked from the couch. "Can I have some cookies?"

I didn't know how to react to that. My mind just pulled a sudden blank when I heard Danny suddenly calling for 'grandpa' and then asking for cookies. Chad was still in shock. I did notice, vaguely, that Danny looked to be a bit pale and tired.

Suddenly, there was a clock-like needle hand appearing in midair that spun around, before revealing Clockwork. He was currently a young adult. I almost jumped, and I felt Juliette's furry hand squeezing mine.

"Slow your breathing otherwise the invisibility will fall," Juliette warned quietly.

I forced myself to calm down as I saw Clockwork floating over to Danny, giving a surprisingly grandfatherly smile to him.

"Of course, Danny," Clockwork said. "How are you feeling?"

"Better, but still sore and tired," Danny answered with a yawn.

Clockwork nodded before he flew into another room, which I just realized was the kitchen, seeing how there was a stove and a fridge in there. I didn't even know Clockwork had a kitchen, or needed one.

"Chocolate chip? Sugar cookies with frosting? Or macadamia with white chocolate chunks?" Clockwork inquired.

"Macadamia with white chocolate chunks, I really like those." Danny smiled.

"Alright, one big plate of white chocolate macadamia cookies coming up!" Clockwork happily announced. "Let me know if you need anything else, my precious little grandson~"

If I was a cartoon character, my jaw would be hitting the floor right now. I have so many questions right now. What… am I… watching?

When Clockwork came back with a plate of the requested cookies, he put it on the coffee table. Danny gave a timid smile.

"Um… Grandpa… if you wouldn't mind… could you sit on the couch with me?" Danny requested.

"Oh? Would you like to snuggle again?~" Clockwork asked with a knowing smile.

"Y-yes, please," Danny answered with a shy grin.

"I don't have much work to do until tonight, so I think we have enough time to snuggle," Clockwork answered as he floated to the couch and sat down beside Danny. "In fact, I left my time staff up at the top of the tower so I wouldn't get any messages from the Observants as they can be quite bothersome."

I could feel a double dose of shock and confusion due to both me and Chad feeling that way.

To add more to that shock and confusion we watched as Danny transformed his lower half into his ghost form, his legs becoming a ghostly tail. First of all, I was surprised to see Danny could partially transform, which made me wonder how far into the future were we and how much Danny had learned. And second, I watched with curiosity and fascination as Danny's ghostly tail started to intertwine with Clockwork's ghostly tail as Clockwork wrapped his arms around Danny, pulling him in for a very fatherly looking hug. I blinked as I wasn't sure what I was hearing, but I could've sworn I heard what sounded like purring coming from Danny.

Wait… is Danny actually purring? What is he, half ghost or half cat? I raised an eyebrow.

Chad felt incredibly surprised and also extremely embarrassed.

"We should go," Juliette softly spoke up.

"Y-yeah…" I quietly agreed. I really feel like we shouldn't be here while Danny and Clockwork are… um… cuddling. It's also really strange to see Clockwork act like that.

Chad agreed, and Chad was still very embarrassed for some reason.

Juliette and I began to, very quietly, walk around the couch, trying to get to the stairs since they led up. I was hoping they would lead us to the top of the tower.

Thankfully we made it to the stairs without being spotted and began to softly walk up them. As we were going up. I noticed the stairs spiral upwards, and it felt like it was taking forever to get to the top. I knew flying and phasing through the ceiling would've gotten us up there quicker, but I never realized how long it would take to walk up the stairs. The longer it took, the more my anxiety began to build. Any minute now, Clockwork will realize we're here.

Before I could start freaking out or panic, we reached the top of the stairs. The room was familiar, it indeed had the time windows I knew Clockwork used to look through different points of time in the living world, but it also looked different. It was bigger, there was more furniture here. It almost looked like another room instead of a place Clockwork went to to look through time.

"So… now we just need to find the page," Juliette commented as she let go of my hand and split off to look around, returning herself to visibility.

I felt more vulnerable now that I wasn't invisible or that Juliette was no longer holding my hand, but I fought down the fear and started to look around. The page had to be here somewhere. We began to look through all the books in the bookshelves for the page, and we even started looking under the furniture to see if Freakshow tried to hide it somewhere other than in a book.

Come on… where else could that madman have hidden that page? I frowned when we couldn't find it anywhere.

I didn't like staying here any longer than I had to. Sooner or later, Clockwork will come up here, and we will lose for sure.

I looked up at the cabinets, realizing I hadn't checked in there yet. I rushed over to the cabinets and began to check each one. No… still no pages… though there's a surprising amount of variety of medicine here. Are these supposed to be for Clockwork or Danny? And if for Danny, how often does he get injured in this reality?

I frowned at the thought before I closed the cabinet and turned around. I saw Clockwork and Danny standing there, staring at me. For a moment, I didn't react, the sight was so familiar to me that it actually took my brain a few seconds to register that having them here, looking at me, was a bad thing. I then jumped and hit the back of my head on the cabinet's door.

"Danny, we can't touch him, but meet your twin brother from another world," Clockwork stated. "The reason we can't touch him is that he's currently dealing with his Reality Gauntlet."

I was rubbing my head as I heard Danny giving a surprised gasp.

"My twin brother?" Danny blinked, looking at me like I was some kind of new species he's never seen before. "I have a twin brother?"

"In the world he comes from, yes," Clockwork confirmed. "His name is Andrew Fenton, though he prefers Andy. He was born just a little bit after you were born, so he's your younger twin in his world."

Danny kept looking at me, and after rubbing my head, I gave a very awkward smile.

"Uh… h-hi?" I didn't expect Clockwork to know about me.

"Seems he isn't the Andy from the world where Andy is mute," Clockwork chuckled.

"Aww man! I could've had a twin brother but I was born in a reality where he was never born?" Danny suddenly whined, giving a pout.

Clockwork gave a nod and smile at that.

Chad was feeling amused, proud, and also skeptical.

"How… did you know about me?" I hesitantly asked Clockwork.

"I am the Master of All Time, Andy," Clockwork pointed out with a grin. "Meaning I know of the other timelines. And in case you're wondering, no, us Clockworks have never met up in a single place to have a meeting. It would be interesting to do though."

"What's your reality like? How did you get here?" Danny asked me curiously.

I looked at my not-twin brother Danny.

"Like I said, Danny, he's dealing with his Reality Gauntlet," Clockwork repeated before I could say anything.

"Yes, but how? I mean Freakshow never transported me to another reality," Danny clarified.

"Would you like to explain, or should I?" Clockwork asked as he looked at me.

Even though this wasn't my Danny, I did miss talking to him. "I'll explain it."

I told Danny about the shadow game Freakshow gave us due to the fact Juliette and I, a ghost Danny never met in this reality, bonded with two of the three Reality Gems, and I had accidentally swallowed one, which caused Freakshow to give us this shadow game.

"But… uh… is it really okay to leave the Gem of Life in my stomach?" I asked in concern.

"You said you and your friend have bonded with the Gems, correct?" Clockwork inquired.

I nodded in confirmation.

"Then that means you and she are perfectly safe," Clockwork assured. "In fact, it's most likely the safest place for the Gems as Freakshow would be unable to get to them."

"Don't worry, Andy, I've swallowed weirder things before," Danny assured.

I raised an eyebrow at Danny's comment.

"He has," Clockwork confirmed. "He once swallowed a whole Fenton Thermos to make sure the ghost inside couldn't be freed by their allies."

"You… can do that?" I blinked in shock.

Chad was feeling shocked and weirded out.

Danny blushed as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. "Uh… just make sure the cap stays on the Fenton Thermos if you ever do try that yourself."

"I'd rather not, thanks," I grumbled.

"Right," Danny chuckled sheepishly.

"My reality… well… it didn't seem all that different from this one, except maybe the Wisps being outside of the Ghost Zone, and you being all… father and son towards each other," I stated.

"There's a reason we have that relationship, and you will find out very soon why," Clockwork informed. "Oh, before I forget, I have a heads up for you and your friend. The rules in the next two worlds will change, one will be hard but have no rules, the last will be impossible and have strict rules."

"So this is like the first level, being the easiest, the second level being intermediate, and the last level being the hardest," Danny summed up. "Jeez, Freakshow isn't pulling any punches in your reality, is he?"

I groaned. "How did you beat your Freakshow's Reality Gauntlet?"

Danny gave a sheepish grin. "I almost didn't, really… he had all the gems on his Reality Gauntlet. He could've easily wiped me out of existence if he wanted to, but he was toying with me at the time. I was able to beat him by using his ghost envy against him, making him turn himself into a ghost, and I just sucked him up into the Fenton Thermos before I grabbed the Reality Gauntlet myself to change everything back to normal."

"I see… wish I could've thought of that," I sighed. "But it's not just Freakshow I'm dealing with. My family and my friends were all taken away by the Guys in White. I have no idea where they're being held… but I'm hoping that if we win Freakshow's little game, we can take the Reality Gauntlet ourselves to save them."

"Oh you will win." Clockwork smiled. "I'm sure of it."

It felt reassuring and encouraging to have Clockwork sure that we would win this game. If I wasn't going to lose the second I touched them, I'd probably hug him, or at least Danny right now.

"Oh, well while you're here, could you help us find the page we're looking for?" I requested.

"I already have it." Clockwork laughed as he summoned his time staff, which had a piece of paper taped to it. Clockwork then put his time staff down on the ground in front of me. "Go ahead and take it whenever you want to leave."

I stared at the page. "Did… Freakshow put that on your time staff?"

"Yes, he did. He was trying to make you lose by having the page stuck to something I am normally always holding," Clockwork explained. "If you touched the page while it was attached to my staff and I was holding my staff, you would've lost as you would technically be touching me."

That sneaky little… and this is only the first level? That was a kaizo level trap! I frowned.

"Andy, before you go to the next world, I strongly recommend you emotionally and mentally brace yourself," Clockwork suggested in a sudden serious tone.

I didn't like the sound of that warning. "What's the next world?"

Clockwork shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't tell you that. Just know that this next world will test you emotionally and mentally."

I sighed. If the first level was this difficult, I didn't even want to know what the next two levels were going to be like.

"I… do believe I can say it will be like a waking nightmare," Clockwork informed after giving it some thought.

Danny frowned in concern. "Are you sure I can't help them?"

"I know you want to, Danny, but you're still recovering and I very much doubt their Freakshow would be alright with you helping them," Clockwork answered.

Chad gave a concerned feeling.

"Hey, Danny," I spoke up, getting the other boy's attention. "I know I probably shouldn't influence this reality, but… I just want to say that… I hope you'll look for a ghost named Juliette Rose, or Juliette Quartz. She's an anthropomorphic white furred goat ghost girl. And she's been on the run for a really long time."

"She could definitely use your help," Juliette's voice came from beside me before she turned visible, likely having turned invisible before.

Jeez, how long had she been standing beside me? I wondered in surprise.

Danny looked at Juliette before nodding. "I promise I'll look for her. Thank you. And both of you… be sure to take care of yourself. If the Danny from your reality is anything like me, then I'm sure he'll be worried sick about you two."

"He likely is, if he's conscious. After all, he was captured by the Guys in White," Juliette responded.

I couldn't help but worry. What if they're dissecting Danny as we speak?

I felt a sudden comfort feeling from Chad.

"Clockwork, could you tell if any time had passed in our reality since we got here?" I asked the Master of Time.

"It is currently morning in your world," Clockwork stated. "Though I do not believe it has been more than a day since your trial started. Your test started at night, did it not?"

"Yeah, if I remember right, it was night," I confirmed.

"Then it is likely the next morning from what I can tell," Clockwork informed.

"Good, so not a lot of time has passed in our reality then…" Juliette sighed in relief.

I looked at Juliette. "Still, we better not waste too much time. If you're ready, I'll go ahead and pick up the page."

"One last thing. Danny, on your search for your Juliette, look for a white knight named Scarlet," Juliette recommended. "You should explain to her that you are looking for Juliette to help her. Scarlet is very very protective of your version of me."

"And you," I added with a chuckle.

"She's very protective of any version of me apparently," Juliette agreed.

Danny nodded. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

"Also… watch out for a black knight named Vesper," Juliette warned.

"Who's Vesper?" Danny questioned.

"She's an evil knight who, in our world, is interested in making you her apprentice," Juliette explained before noticing something. "Though it looks like your grandfather is getting annoyed at the spoilers we're giving you…"

"It's fine if you want to warn Danny of something, but it's best not to give away too much either, otherwise he wouldn't get the chance to learn and grow," Clockwork stated.

"Fair enough," I said.

"Hey, uh… Andy?" Danny spoke up, getting my attention. "Even though you don't exist here, I still feel like you really are a part of the family. So I hope you're able to save everyone when you get back."

I smiled a little, feeling a warm feeling in my chest when Danny said he felt like I was still part of the family.

"Oh and if you ever want to come visit, I recommend not destroying your Reality Gauntlet~" Clockwork grinned. "We'd be more than willing to have you back here."

Danny blushed a little at that.

"Right," I said. "Thanks again, Clockwork, Danny. Hopefully if we do see each other again, it'll be under better circumstances."

With that said, I reached down to the time staff and grabbed onto the page. As soon as I did, everything around Juliette and I suddenly shifted and changed.

---

"Well well well, you nearly lost in the first round, so I think I will make the next world easier for you~" Freakshow grinned as he appeared in front of us.

I looked around and noticed we were standing in a void space with nothing around. We were standing in the middle of a circle of light, but a few feet away from us in any direction was nothing but darkness.

"For this next world, you can get help from anyone and you can touch and be touched by anyone you want," Freakshow informed. "However, in the final world, you cannot interact or be seen by any of the 'protagonists' of that world, or any of the supporting characters. Oh and before you try to touch me right now to 'catch me' it won't work. There is an invisible barrier between us, a… void barrier if you will."

"How many worlds do we need to go through before we can catch you?" I questioned.

"You can catch me in any of the worlds if you're fast enough. But there are only two more worlds," Freakshow answered. "After all, there are only three pages in my possession."

"So we just have to get through this one, and the next one and try to catch you in both those worlds," Juliette summarized.

"Precisely. But if you somehow manage to make it through this world, I will make sure to make the last one the hardest. I do aim to win after all, so I could finally become Master of all Reality." Freakshow grinned wickedly.

"I feel that your 'kindness' is a false one," Juliette remarked, her face full of suspicion. "For this next world, what reasoning might you have to take away those certain rules? What kind of risks are we going to be putting ourselves in that need to be offset by the removal of said rules in order to keep this game balanced?"

"You'll have to find out for yourselves. I'm not obligated to spoil the surprise after all," Freakshow answered.

Juliette looked at me and gave a concerned look. "Whatever is in this next world, we need to be careful. The ancient laws of this type of game require the game to be fair for both parties. The only reason he would suspend a rule is if there is something about this next world that would make it extremely unfair for us regarding the rules of being caught and getting help."

"That much is a given," I said, before frowning. I think Clockwork said something about this too before he gave us the page. What could this next world be?

"Now then, I wish you both the best of luck, or not~ After all, I do want to win, but it'll be fun to watch you struggle." Freakshow grinned before the blue gem on his gauntlet glowed brightly.

---

I found myself on what appeared to be abandoned streets. There were no vehicles, the sky was painted with an eerie red glow. The buildings looked tattered and old. I frowned as I began to walk around the creepily, seemingly empty town I found myself in. There was something familiar about this, disturbingly so, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

The only thing that kept me from freaking out about what happened to this place was Chad. Chad felt worried too, but I felt a sense of comfort from him.

My core felt stronger now, I felt confident that I should be able to use my ghost form now, but I wanted to avoid doing so too soon in case it might damage my core. Then a familiar sense of heat crawled out of my throat before I released a dark blue mist from my mouth. Shortly after my ghost sense went off, I saw a humanoid ghost flying around. I frowned, seeing that the ghost looked familiar, but it was difficult to tell due to the unnatural blue skin. They appeared to be a teenager's age.

The ghost wasn't what bothered me, however, at least not the main reason why I felt bothered. As I looked around, I could deduce this was supposedly Amity Park, it looked like Amity Park, but it felt like I was in the Ghost Zone. The sky wasn't a natural color, I could sense a heavy amount of ectoplasm in the air, even more so than usual in Amity Park, the gravity felt a little strange, and it almost looked like some parts of the city was glowing. As I walked in the central park of Amity Park, I walked past a patch of flowers, which seemed to react to me. I noticed a bunch of blue, red, and green flowers suddenly started to bloom around me, and they were all glowing. Feeling spooked out by this, I quickly left the central park area, which was now covered in glowing flowers.

As I was walking down the sidewalk, I noticed a lot of ghosts glancing over at me and were whispering amongst each other. I could hear exactly what they were whispering about, but I couldn't help but feel that it was nothing good. Not liking how I was being looked at, I sped up my pace, wanting to find Juliette as quickly as possible.

I didn't like how Amity Park seemed to be overrun by ghosts. I didn't see any humans around. I thought I did, some looked human enough, but they had too much ectoplasm in them, and I could see their ghostly aura. I was starting to feel a bit nauseous, my heart was beating hard against my chest. Different scenarios popped into my head on what could've happened to this world. Ghosts taking over the world, or an experiment from the Guys in White gone wrong and they unleashed some kind of ecto virus onto the world, or the Danny Phantom of this world had fallen and the ghosts took over. I didn't like any of these scenarios, but there was something about this world that felt familiar and that scared me even more.

I could feel Chad trying to comfort me the best he could while I was trying not to have an anxiety attack.

"Hey, you!" A voice hissed at me from a nearby dark alleyway, making me jump. "Please… help me."

I looked over at the person who called me, though it was difficult to see them in the dark alleyway. Although it was probably… definitely stupid of me, I also felt worried if this person really needed help. I carefully, and cautiously, walked closer to the person in the dark alleyway, ready to bolt it if I had to.

"Please… you have to have a cure… you look… and feel normal…" The voice begged as I saw one glowing orange eye. "I… I don't want to turn… I don't want to become one of them."

I was taken aback in shock. This person looked human, they were a grown man, and it looked like he was wearing some kind of black and blue uniform. His uniform looked torn, and he had some nasty looking scratches on him. But what scared me the most was that I could tell he was human, but he was starting to gain ghostly properties. One of his eyes was glowing orange, while the other was a normal hazel color. He looked to be sweating, struggling, his body was shaking, and he looked like he was crying. I felt scared and sorry for the man.

"Please… the… halfs have the cure…" The man groaned. "And… you look like one of the halfs… you have the energy… but you look human. So please… cure me…" The man was crying by the end of his plea.

I wanted to help this man, but I didn't even know what was happening to him, let alone have this 'cure'. What did he mean by 'halfs have the cure'?

"Please, sir, calm down. You need to tell me what's happening to you, what kind of cure do you need?" I asked softly.

"Remove… the second heart…" The man winced, his other eye beginning to change from hazel to the glowing orange. "It hurts… and aches… and it's so… cold…"

This disease or whatever it was affecting the man was spreading faster, I could already see a ghostly aura glowing on his body.

"But… it also burns!" The man cried in pain. "It hurts… I feel like I'm being… torn apart… and put back together…"

"I'm- I'm sorry, I don't know what to do!" I quickly said, feeling a bit panicked at the situation. Call the hospital? But what hospital could cure a ghost disease? "Who are these 'halfs'? How can I get help for you?"

"Please… end my misery…" The man begged, seeming to be in too much pain to concentrate on my questions. "Don't let me turn… send me to heaven… please…"

I knew what the man was requesting, but I couldn't, nor wouldn't, ever be able to kill someone. But if I don't, would that be kinder to someone who is suffering?

I felt Chad's franticness, I knew I had to get away from the man. I didn't know what was happening to him, but something told me I didn't want to be near him when it finished.

"I'm sorry…" I apologized softly before running away, leaving the man to suffer his fate. What am I doing? How could I leave him there like that? But… there was nothing I could've done...

My speed doubled when I heard loud cries of pain and agony coming from the alleyway I had just left.

Because I wasn't watching where I was going, however, I ended up smashing into someone, and both of us tumbled down into the ground.

"Andy…? Woah, is that really you?"

I shook my head a little, before opening my eyes, surprised that whoever I ran into didn't sound angry about it. I was even more surprised to see it was Valerie.

"I… haven't seen you since this whole event started," Valerie remarked in surprise. "I… thought you ran away from Amity Park to form a rebellion against the source of the 'plague'. You don't seem to have an army with you, so I'm guessing you're either scouting ahead or you didn't manage to form that rebellion of yours."

"What?" I blinked at Valerie, I noticed that she was wearing her red and black suit, but without the helmet on. She also didn't have her hoverboard either from the looks of it, or she was just not using it right now.

But what caught my attention was the fact she was wearing some kind of symbol on her chest, like a badge or something.

"Come on, Andy, you don't have to play dumb," Valerie chuckled as she walked over and sat down on a nearby bench. "Almost everyone noticed your sudden disappearance and you told a few people about your plan to go start a rebellion in order to get everyone the cure. I'm glad you're back though, hopefully it means you've decided that you don't want to run from home anymore."

She must be talking about the Andy from this world. So at least I know there's more than one world with me in it. But… what is she talking about? A rebellion? And what is this cure and disease that's going on? I frowned as I tried to figure out my best course of action. Obviously I don't know enough to be able to even come close to pretending to be this world's Andy. I could either be honest, or I could pretend I am this world's Andy but suffered from amnesia...

"Danny, Jazz, and everyone else have been doing well by the way," Valerie informed. "Your dad has… surprisingly gotten in shape. And I have to say… he actually buffed up extremely well. Let's see… your mom has been continuing to invent things, but now she's inventing items that help ghosts instead of harming them. She of course is still making inventions that help people. Your sister is still a brainiac like always and has devoted most of her time to learning the new information from this new world of ours. Dash is helping people get and stay in shape. Tucker is a techy like always but he's also found his way into politics and is trying to help this new world. Sam is actually the biggest change, she's picked up many new skills, is smiling a lot more than she used to, and doesn't always dress in goth colors anymore. She said something about 'this new world already having enough darkness in it to sate her inner goth'. And Danny… oh boy, he's become an incredibly strong and confident leader. He gets help from everyone and tries to help everyone out. So… he's still the same him, but a lot more mature and confident."

I was surprised at the information Valerie just gave me. It sounded like my friends and family were doing pretty well in this creepy world. But Valerie hadn't said anything about this ghost virus that was apparently going around, nor had she told me much about this 'new world'. What is actually happening to this world? What has happened? And what was this about a rebellion? A rebellion for what exactly?

"Um…" I hesitated for a moment. "What… exactly is happening to this world?"

Valerie looked at me with a confused look. "You doing okay, Andy?"

"I don't know. The last time I checked, Amity Park was a normal place, with normal people who ran away from ghosts. I have no idea what's going on here," I answered honestly.

"Geez… uh… give me a moment," Valerie said before she tapped something on her suit. "Huh… looks like you are a little worse for wear. Tell me, does your head hurt or anything? Did you fall on your head or hit it against anything really hard?"

"Oh, I definitely fell, though I can't remember if it was on my head," I sighed, remembering how I fell when the game started in the last world.

Valerie nodded. "Maybe we should take you home and have your mom check you out."

"Wait," I spoke up. "I want to know what's happening first. I ran into a man earlier who was begging me for help, claiming that he needed a 'cure', and he was suddenly turning more ghostly."

"Well first off, how about you sit down with me?" Valerie suggested. "If you did land on your head, it would be best not to push yourself physically."

I frowned a little, a small part of me was worried that this might be a trap, but if I wanted to get any information on this world, I needed to take a chance. I, cautiously, sat down on the bench next to Valerie.

"So do you remember anything? Or should I just tell you everything?" Valerie inquired. "Or wait, what do you remember?"

If this world was anything like mine was before it turned into… whatever this was, I decided to try to narrow it down to her telling me about this world. I didn't need the alternate Andy's life story after all.

"I remembered who I am, and who my family and friends were. I remembered Amity Park, at least before it became like this. I remembered my school and all. I just… don't remember anything about it changing suddenly," I informed.

"I see…" Valerie muttered, rubbing her cheek a little. "Well… the first thing I should probably say is that this world is technically new, but it's mainly just our world and the Ghost Zone fused into one. That's why there are stars in the sky, but the sky is glowing the eerie red."

My eyes went wide at that. "Our world and the Ghost Zone fused!?"

"The world is still changing though," Valerie continued with a chuckle. "While yes, our world and the Ghost Zone fused, the process is still ongoing. One of the coolest things I've seen is that Earth is actually getting bigger, meaning there will be more room on it to do things like farm or build homes. Meaning the issues of poverty, famine, and homelessness will hopefully cease to exist in the near future."

"Wait, how could our world and the Ghost Zone fuse? Isn't that… I don't know, impossible? The two worlds are the opposite of each other!" I said worriedly. Why does that sound familiar? Didn't something like that almost happened before?

"Yeah yeah, they're like two sides of a coin and all that." Valerie waved her hand, chuckling a little. "But what if the coin was melted down so there were no sides? Fused into one without there being destruction of both universes?"

I didn't know what the repercussions were if the living world and the Ghost Zone were to fuse one day, but I would deduce that no living being would be able to survive it for very long. Ghosts would likely take over, or the living would need to adapt and become ghostly themselves.

"Knowing how you are, you're likely thinking about 'but if we ended up fused with the Ghost Zone, wouldn't we die because we're not supposed to be able to survive in the Ghost Zone?!'," Valerie commented. "But that's the thing, what you're thinking about is if Earth was pulled into the Ghost Zone. That's not how it happened. The walls between the two worlds were removed and they became one. So everyone is able to survive without any danger. There is still a sun in the distance, there are still other planets and even solar systems and galaxies. There is still an atmosphere and wind and all that, it's just we're also in the Ghost Zone. Yes, gravity is a little different, but it's not too much of a difference that we can't adjust. It's actually a good change because gravity is actually slightly less, meaning people who used to be unable to walk due to frail or weak bodies can actually walk around normally as they're not being pulled towards the ground as hard anymore."

Okay, that's kind of spooky how this Valerie apparently knows me so well she knew what I was thinking. But what's even spookier is the fact she's okay with all of this. Even if what she believes is true, the Valerie I know would rather die than have the living world and the Ghost Zone fuse. … The living world and the Ghost Zone fusing… that almost sounds like the Earth is becoming a halfa itself… I couldn't help but note.

"I wasn't too happy about this change at first, but Danny and Jazz managed to convince me to at least give this new world a chance," Valerie continued. "After all, it would've been kinda pointless to fight against the changing of our universe, especially when there was no guarantee I could ever find a way to turn it back. I did want to fight at first, but then I thought about it and asked myself if I really wanted to do that or if I was just going to be acting like some child throwing a temper tantrum about having her favorite dolly taken away."

"Do you know how this happened then?" I asked.

"Nobody really knows, I think, except for maybe Danny," Valerie shrugged. "Speaking of Danny, he misses you. We should get you back to your family, maybe they can help get your memory back."

"Wait… you said something about me disappearing and starting a rebellion… why would I do that?" I asked warily.

"You didn't want to accept this world. You wanted to create a 'rebellion' of like minded, intelligent people who could try to find a way to undo the change to our universe," Valerie answered. "You also wanted to create a potential army in case we were invaded by ghosts that wanted to take Earth for themselves."

"What about this ghost virus? I saw a man changing in front of me before I ran into you," I questioned.

"Maybe it was a ghost that was trying to mess with you," Valerie offered. "After all, look at me. I've been in Amity Park since you left and I'm still human. If there was some sort of ghost virus, don't you think I'd be out there trying to get people to wear masks or something?"

Something isn't right here… I feel like I know, yet I don't want to know… I can't go to this world's version of my family. It may not be against the rules to let them come into contact with me, but still… there had to be a reason why Freakshow took away that rule. There would still be a way to lose this game. I frowned to myself. "Um… where are my family right now?"

"They're likely at your home, which in case you can't remember, is called Fenton Works," Valerie replied as she stood up. "Come on, Andy, let's get going. And before you ask, no, I'm not going to let you head there on your own. It's idiotic to let someone with a potential head injury be on their own."

Uh-oh… how am I going to get out of this one? I inwardly gulped. Should I make a run for it? Should I go with her? Should I use my ghost powers to escape? Is that wise? There had to be a reason why my alternate self ran away to build a rebellion. I doubt that he wouldn't have taken his family with him without a good reason.

Valerie gave me a concerned look. "Andy… are you going to run again…? If you are… I won't stop you, but I will say that I'll be sad. It was… kinda lonely around here without you since you left. I was hoping you actually were back. Yeah it would've sucked for you to have amnesia, but at least you would've been back. But… I can't help but shake the feeling that you aren't actually dealing with amnesia."

"... Um…" I began, then someone wearing a hoodie suddenly walked up to us.

"General Valerie, you're needed at the Amity Tower," The person said in a formal tone. "I can take care of Andy and take him back home."

Valerie sighed and rubbed her head a little. "Really…? Right now? Can't I skip one meeting to spend some time with my friend?"

"Don't worry, you'll be able to spend more time with your friend soon, once I get him home," The hooded figure promised.

"Yeah… fine," Valerie sighed before looking at me with a smile. "I hope I'll see you again soon, Andy, and maybe I can show you the upsides to this new world. Oh and I do hope that you'll get your memories back."

Suddenly, a violet red ring of light appeared on her torso and split horizontally on her body. Her suit was suddenly more black then red, the colors being inverted, her hair was silver, and her eyes glowed a rose color, in between red and purple.

I stared at her, my jaw nearly dropped at the sight, and I had to ask myself if I was dreaming all this. Because this definitely felt like a fever dream right now.

"Right, I'll need to tell you about this later," Valerie chuckled. "While yes I am still human, I'm also half ghost."

"B-b-but you… w-w-what!?" Was all I could say in that moment.

Valerie then flew away, her feet turning into a tail as she flew.

"B-b-but… she…" I was still in shock before I looked at the hooded figure, who was chuckling.

"Yeah, that's how I reacted when I first saw it too," The hooded figure commented.

Chad and I were both very confused, and a sense of dread came over us. I had only seen Valerie turn into a ghost once, once in my life, and it was something I had hoped to never see again. But I decided to not jump to the worst possible conclusion, and looked at the hooded figure.

"What the heck is going on!?" I ended up shouting without meaning to.

"Oh, you know, just your average everyday 'super powerful person takes over the world in order to help them the way they think works best' scenario," The hooded figure replied.

"What?" I frowned. "Super powerful- who? Who took over the world?" Please don't say Danny, please don't say Danny!

Chad was feeling just as anxious as I was.

"You really want to know?" The hooded figure chuckled. "I know that if I were in your position, I wouldn't."

I looked at the hooded figure. "Then another question… who are you?"

"Me? I'm the quiet assisting characters that tries their best to blend into the background and work from behind the scenes," The hooded figure answered. "I'm the character that does whatever is possible to help the protagonist, or protagonists, in achieving their goal. I guess you can say I'm a supporting character."

I groaned. "Enough with the vagueness, I was asking for your name."

"Well that depends on what you want to call me," The hooded figure shrugged. "You could call me Echo, or Mirror, or Mirage, or you could call me a duplicate…" The hooded figure reached up and pulled back their hood to reveal their grinning face. "Or you can just call me Andy~"

If I was a cartoon character, my jaw would've dropped. I felt the instinct to hide because of the last world's rules, and I didn't expect to see me, well, another me standing right in front of me like this. This Andy looked older somehow, despite likely being the same age as me, his hair was messier than mine, and he had some bags under his eyes, like he hadn't been getting enough sleep.

Before I could start babbling like a confused idiot, a familiar white furred person came from behind this other Andy.

"Trust me, I was as shocked as you when he found me," Juliette remarked with a comforting smile.

"Juliette!" I was surprised but relieved to see Juliette.

"Juliette nearly hugged me when she saw me, thinking I was you," The other Andy chuckled. "I had to explain the situation to her."

"Wait… how did you know Juliette and I are from a different world? I mean you seem to know about us," I pointed out.

"Yeah, how could you know about me if you're not… you know, my Andy?" Juliette added with a questioning expression. "You never did explain that part."

The other Andy looked around for a moment before pulling his hood back on his head. "It's not safe to talk here. Follow me, and I will explain everything. Oh, and you, Andy, try to keep your head down, you don't want to draw too much attention. Maybe on the way to where we're going, I'll grab a new hoodie for you to wear."

It made me wish I did wear my hoodie before the Nevada Desert concert, at least then I could hide my own face. I followed this other Andy and Juliette, trying to keep my head down as much as possible. From what I've learned from Valerie, apparently I supposedly disappeared to start a rebellion. That means I don't want to be seen, and that would explain why this other Andy didn't want to be seen either.

The other Andy led us to an old looking building. It wasn't the opera house, but it looked to be abandoned. He led us inside, which looked like a library from all the shelves of books I could see. It was pretty dusty here, and I could see quite a bit of cobwebs. The dust and cobwebs lead me to believe that the library hadn't been used for quite some time and that there was nobody working here.

"Go find somewhere to sit that's away from the windows," The other Andy ordered. "I'll go grab some stuff that you guys look like you could use."

Juliette and I decided to sit on some bean bags that had book shelves all around it, this looked like it would've been used as some kind of meeting spot for some people in the library. It was nice and hidden from any windows, and it was comfortable, if not dusty, it was still better than the opera house we stayed at in the last world. Before sitting down though, Juliette made sure to shake out the bean bag chairs.

"So… this world is definitely… chaotic?" Juliette commented, unsure of how to describe the world we were in. "I mean, both the living world and the Ghost Zone apparently fused without destabilizing. A world like that could only be considered chaotic."

I frowned, feeling a cold feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach when Juliette mentioned the living world and the Ghost Zone fusing.

"What's wrong?" Juliette asked, likely noticing my pale face.

I furrowed my eyebrows, unsure if I should tell Juliette about what I was thinking. I could be wrong, and it could be something else than what I was thinking. But all the evidence I had seen points to exactly what I was thinking, and fearing.

"Is… the Gem of Life bothering you?" Juliette hesitantly questioned. "Or are you feeling hungry? Or do you just have a stomachache?"

Juliette likely asked me that because I was rubbing my stomach a little bit, trying to bring down the queasiness I was feeling. I had actually forgotten about the Gem of Life.

"Ah… no…" I sighed before rubbing my head a little. "It's just… this world… I… I may have seen it almost come to be before…"

"In a vision?" The goat ghost girl inquired in concern.

Heh… I wish… I inwardly bitterly chuckled. "No… you… may not remember about it, because it… never technically happened, but… the world… the living world and the Ghost Zone nearly fused at one point in our reality."

"It… did?" Juliette raised a brow. "When? Why? How?"

"It's complicated…" I sighed. "Honestly I didn't expect to have to explain it to anyone… I didn't think I would need to, or rather, I hoped I wouldn't…"

Juliette frowned. This wasn't something I wanted to talk about, but if this world was what I thought it was, it would be dangerous to leave Juliette in the dark.

"Several months ago… I was still human, I wasn't a halfa yet. But my brother, Danny, was already a halfa at the time," I started. "He had already made enemies with other ghosts, and… the ghosts used me as bait to lure Danny into a trap. Thankfully Danny was able to fight them off when Tucker and Sam came along, but he still got hurt. I made a wish that Danny would be stronger and smarter, so the ghosts wouldn't be able to hurt him like that again… but little did I know, a ghost genie named Desiree had heard my wish. She has this Obsession with granting any wish she hears, but that doesn't mean she couldn't twist those wishes as much as she possibly could."

I took a breath before continuing. "Desiree… fused Danny with the red energy mist that was in Freakshow's crystal ball. It… it corrupted him. It changed his form, he looked… evil. I… I don't think Danny was evil, or at least wasn't trying to be evil, but he had a very twisted mindset. Not only did his form change, or his mind become twisted, but his power grew immensely as well. He was able to create thousands, if not millions, of duplicates of himself. He started turning every human on the planet into half ghosts with his duplicates. He wanted the world to unite in equality, he was hoping to bring a utopia. But…"

I shook my head. "Something went terribly wrong. The halfas Danny created were unstable, they began to destabilize. They were shedding their humanity, turning into pure ghosts. They were loyal to Danny, however, but Danny didn't want them to be mindless servant ghosts. I… I had managed to escape from Danny at the time, using a portable ghost shield my parents had made. But I was alone for a while… I was hunted, hiding, starving, hurt… I had wanted nothing more than to give up and just let my brother do what he wanted with me… I had come this close to giving up, Juliette… Our world… because everyone was turning into ghosts… began to fuse with the Ghost Zone."

I felt Chad trying to comfort me, but I also felt a strong sense of guilt coming from him.

"Oh… wow, I… I am surprised our version of Earth came that close to changing," Juliette stated in shock, her eyes wide. "But… it didn't happen… why? And do you feel that what's happening here, in this world, might be the same? Because if so, one thing I noticed is that most people are stable. There were halfas that I sensed like Valerie, who was similar to you. There were also others that I sensed that seemed… not complete, like they were three quarters ghost and only a quarter human, or the other way around. I mean there were also a lot of regular ghosts that had humanoid appearances, but none of them were destabilizing or mindless."

"I don't know, that's what's been throwing me off. The world seems to be similar to what almost happened, but not quite the same," I replied. "... As for what happened… let's just say it took Clockwork some meddling to fix that mess…"

"If Clockwork meddled in our world, why didn't he meddle in this one?" Juliette raised a brow. "Seems a bit… strange for one Clockwork to decide not to do what the other Clockworks did. While I may not like the ghost, I know him enough to know that he is quite consistent with things. So perhaps something happened to the Clockwork of this world."

"Oh… I hope not…" I frowned. "But… why…?"

Why didn't this version of me reverse time and stop Danny? Was he unable to? I frowned to myself. No, I can't… I can't make assumptions yet.

Before Juliette could ask me about my strange question, the other Andy came over to us, holding a dark green hoodie.

"Here, this should suffice for the time being," The other Andy stated before tossing the hoodie to me. "And please, don't ask where I got it from. Just know that it won't be missed."

I couldn't help but shiver at the fact that my other self was okay with just taking this from somebody. Seems we're going to be doing a lot of stealing…

The other Andy sat down on one of the bean bags. "... Okay… I owe you two an explanation, don't I?"

"An explanation would be appreciated, yes," Juliette responded as she straightened out her clothes.

"Okay… well, first, you two can call me Echo, I use that as my code name so nobody would find me so easily," The other Andy, a.k.a. Echo informed. "And it'll help avoid confusion."

"Smart, using a code name to help hide yourself," I commented.

"First question, you said something about a rebellion you were building?" Juliette asked.

Echo chuckled. "Getting right into it, huh? Alright, well due to the powerful leader of this world wanting to make everyone half ghost without sacrificing their humanity having lots of power and a small force of his own, I felt it was necessary to build a resistance, or a rebellion. I've actually gone across the country, to different continents, and even went out into the domains of the Ghost Zone in order to build a force that could help me take the 'big bad' down."

"This… powerful leader, did he create this ghost virus to turn humans into halfas?" I questioned. "Is that why they're not destabilizing and turning into pure ghosts?"

"It's not just a virus, Andy," Echo responded with a sigh. "Essentially, the powerful leader took lots and lots of ghosts and shrunk them down. Due to this shrinkage, they didn't have enough energy to keep their forms sustained and they reverted to just being their ghost cores. With those ghost cores… the powerful leader found a way to make them as light as air and float around, like an airborne pathogen. Not all of our planet's air is filled with those ghost cores though, but most that go outside wear heavy duty masks to ensure they won't breathe any cores in. Anyone who does inhale a core… well the core grows back to normal size and starts bonding to the body of the human that breathed it. The core then starts producing energy again and starts turning the human into a ghost. Sometimes the human will stay human and have ghostly features, other times they will turn into a ghost with human features, and the rare occasions, the human will turn into one of two types of halfa. The perfect halfa, like Valerie, Mom, Dad, Tucker, Sam, Jazz, etcetera. And then the incomplete halfas which can't grow past a certain point but most can switch between ghost and human at will. There are some incompletes whose transformation is based off of their emotional state though."

"Oh jeez, that sounds complicated…" I noted. I mean I knew Danny was smart, but I don't think even he would've thought of shrinking down ghosts to their core state and spread them like a virus. That's ingenious… but also scary. Did Danny really come up with that idea in this world?

"That shrinking part reminded me of that Fenton Crammer device you told me about at one point, Andy," Juliette pointed out before looking at Echo. "Did the powerful leader get their hands on that technology and use it on a larger scale or something?"

"The Fenton Crammer?" Echo blinked.

"It was a device Dad… my dad made that shrunk down a ghost to where they would be helpless. It looks kinda like a weaponized version of a dust buster," I explained. "Danny and Dash got shrunk down… it was a whole mess. They eventually got back to normal size."

Echo shook his head. "My parents didn't make anything like that before this whole thing started. But I do believe they did make something with a similar effect since the leader was able to shrink down the ghosts. It was called the Core Shrinker. My guess is the leader might've suggested the idea to them at some point after turning them."

"So we're dealing with not just a super powerful leader who pretty much conquered the world, but a super intelligent genius leader as well?" Juliette frowned.

Echo gave a look of amusement. "Well, I wouldn't say super intelligent genius, it's a little redundant, but yes, pretty much."

"How were you able to get away?" I inquired.

"I…" Echo sighed and scratched the back of his head, an expression of shame on his face. "I ran… I grabbed what I could from home, got myself in the Ops Center, made it go blimp then plane, and flew as far away as I could. I was so terrified and didn't know who I could trust… so… I didn't bring anyone with…"

Juliette and I were quiet. I never had to use the blimp or the plane to get away, I used a portal ghost shield.

"Did… didn't you have a portable ghost shield or anything to protect yourself with?" I questioned.

"The portable ghost shield was destroyed," Echo answered.

"What?" I frowned. If my only means of protection was destroyed then… yeah… I probably would've run away too, as far as I could… but how did it get destroyed?

"It was active long enough for me to get away from Amity Park and run a decontamination cycle on the air inside the plane," Echo informed. "But… due to likely being overwhelmed by miniaturized ghost cores, it shorted out after some time."

I just didn't get it. What made this world's Danny different from mine? The fact that Danny used ghost cores to act as viruses instead of changing everyone with his own duplicates is… it just doesn't sound like Danny…

"Thankfully I didn't breathe in any of the ghost cores," Echo assured.

"Did… did the leader have anyone helping him? Giving him advice or ideas or anything?" I questioned. As smart as Danny is, I seriously doubt he would've come up with that sort of plan on his own.

"I don't know… maybe?" Echo replied in an unsure tone. "I didn't really keep a super close eye on the leader. Though… maybe there was some influence from a certain fruity shape commonly confused with a circle."

I furrowed my eyebrows at that. A fruity shape…?

"Okay…" Juliette spoke up. "So… how did you know about us then? You still haven't explained that part."

"And what are you doing here, back in Amity Park?" I added.

"Well…" Echo stopped for a moment before he looked at me. "You must have an idea on how. I had a vision of you two arriving here. I found out you were both from another dimension, a dimension where none of this had happened. And… I was hoping that was a sign, a sign that there was hope to fix this world, and… getting my friends and family back. I could finally stop hiding and running away. I came here in hopes of getting to you two before D… the leader did."

Juliette and I looked at each other and frowned.

"... The thing is… we didn't come here to help in a war or liberate this world…" I said softly. "We were…"

"I know…" Echo spoke up. "You're here because of the other world's Freakshow, and his shadow game. But… don't you see? I know where the page is, and you'll have to fight through the leader in order to get to it anyways."

"What do you mean?" I frowned.

"The page you're after is stuck to the back of the powerful leader's throne," Echo answered.

"Okay… can you just tell me who this powerful leader is?" Juliette requested. "You both seem to know who this 'powerful leader' is and I don't enjoy being kept in the dark."

Both me and the other Andy were hesitant.

"... Do you want me to say it?" Echo asked me.

Knowing and suspecting was one thing, but it was another to have it confirmed by someone else, even if he is me.

"... You might as well. I'd rather not be going up against a leader we don't know," I answered.

"... It's Danny," Echo said after a few seconds of hesitation.

"Danny?" Juliette repeated in confusion and bewilderment. "As in your twin brother? How is he the powerful villainous sounding leader?!"

I groaned at that, and I felt Chad was agreeing with me.

"I believe that Danny was fused with something unnatural and powerful," Echo explained. "It twisted his mind and changed his form. It had given him incredible power."

"What-" Juliette began to ask before she glanced at me. "The thing with the crystal orb?"

Echo and I both nodded.

"So we are in that world…" I frowned. But in the version where I failed...

"As unbelievable as it is, I am waging war against my own brother," Echo sighed regretfully.

I looked at Echo, there was something that was nagging me in the back of my mind. Wait… if he was never able to reverse time… how is he able to have future visions…?

"It… sounds terrible…" Juliette frowned. "It must be a heavy weight on you and I can't even begin to imagine the pain in your heart."

"I've given up on being able to have my brother see reason as he is now." Echo admitted with a defeated sigh. "The best we can do now is to try to get to Danny while he least expects it, keep him and his army of warriors distracted with my rebellion, and use this device that the best scientists that I could find made to put Danny in a stasis. Despite everything, I don't want to kill my brother. I just want to stop him. Once we put Danny in stasis, you two can grab the page."

"What will you do?" Juliette inquired.

"I'll take Danny, who will be shrunken down and rendered powerless, back to one of my bases to hopefully extract whatever darkness is in him. Or at least put that darkness in some kind of dormant state to be dealt with later on. Then I'm going to go find Clockwork and see if he can help separate our worlds and undo everything Danny has done," Echo answered.

"Why hasn't Clockwork done anything yet?" I questioned.

Echo shook his head. "I wish I knew. But this is the best we can do for the time being. So… what do you two say? Are you going to help me put an end to this halfa era?"

"I…" Juliette frowned. "I can't honestly imagine this world being stable for long… no offense."

"None taken," Echo responded.

"So, to help this world from not destabilizing, and to help you get your friends and family back, I will help," Juliette firmly stated.

"I'll also help. It's the best way to get the page, and help each other," I remarked.

Echo smiled. "Glad to hear it."

"So what should we do now?" Juliette questioned, looking a bit shaky, likely wanting to get out of here as quick as possible.

Echo stood up from the bean bag. "The first thing we should do is head to one of my closest bases. The base on the outskirts of Amity Park. The rebellion members there were to keep an eye on Danny and those closest to him to let us know what move they're planning to make next. When the opportunity presents itself, that is when we will strike."

"Um… did you make up that excuse to Valerie earlier? If so, they might be on high alert now…" Juliette worriedly asked.

Echo gave a grin. "Nope. I just tricked her original messenger into thinking I was Danny and that I would personally deliver her the message. It's pretty easy for those who don't know Danny on a personal level to think I'm Danny, especially since I don't show my actual face around here often. I also keep tabs on the latest plans that Danny is making, so I know when to react."

"Wow, clever, you sound like a tactician," I commented. Is it weird to be complimenting myself like that? I mean, he technically isn't me, but an Andy from an alternative universe.

"Okay, good. So he won't be on high alert," Juliette said in relief.

"Yeah, but we should still be careful," Echo said. "The ghost cores are heavy in the air around Amity Park since this is where they originated from. Juliette, since you're already a ghost yourself, you should be fine. However, Andy…"

Echo looked at me for a moment, and I looked at him. I… already am half ghost…

The realization hadn't hit me until now. It wasn't something I had consciously thought about much anymore, not since I had accepted and gotten used to my ghost powers. But the fact I was half ghost in a world where being half ghost was considered a bad thing just made me feel uneasy, and returned some of the worried and doubtful feelings I had about becoming a corrupted halfa. Would Echo somehow realize I'm half ghost too?

I thought back to that man who was crying out for a cure earlier. He had called me a 'half'. Did he realize I was a halfa already? Could other halfas, be they… 'perfect' or 'incomplete' halfas, tell if someone else is also a halfa? It… wasn't something Danny and I could do, then again Danny and I were the only halfas who were near each other at all times. We had gotten used to each other's presence, so there had never been a reason for us to sense other halfas.

"It would be wise to go out with a gas mask," Echo finally said after a while of silence.

Juliette gave me a nod. "Yes, that would be best. You can hide your masks under your hoodies. If anyone stops us, I'll… simply tell them that I'm taking you somewhere important and that the… uh leader is involved? Does Danny have any specific names in this world? Or is it just 'the leader'?"

"He doesn't like having titles, but many like to call him the King, not the King of Ghosts or the King of Halfas, just the King, considering he is pretty much the ruler of this world now," Echo answered.

"Okay, so if anyone asks, I'll tell them I'm taking you somewhere important and my matters are in regards to the King," Juliette replied as she stood up and stretched out a little. "Hopefully the next world will let us relax a bit more…"

"Somehow I doubt it," I grumbled as I stood up as well, then I looked at the other Andy. "Wait… you weren't wearing a gas mask when we met."

Echo sighed. "Heh, sharp, I expected nothing less from another me. Regrettably… I've already been infected."

"What!?" Both Juliette and I gasped in shock at this revelation.

"I was captured at one point, though I was able to escape... but not without cost. I've been taking medicine to slow down the symptoms though," Echo explained. "So it doesn't look like I'm ghostly, but I… I do feel a core trying to bind itself to me. It's… another reason why I've been getting desperate. I don't have a lot of time left until I likely turn."

"Then we shouldn't waste any time," Juliette firmly remarked as she looked at me. "And you should definitely wear a mask."

"Are there any masks here I can wear?" I asked, even though I don't think I needed one, I didn't want Echo to know I was already a halfa.

"I brought one, yeah," Echo responded as he held out a gas mask. "I kept one with me just in case I found another… survivor."

I took the gas mask noticing there was a large clear part over the eyes, but the mouth and nose were covered by an actual filtration system, one that looked high tech. I began to put it on with some assistance from Echo since I never had to put on a gas mask before, at least one without a hazmat suit.

Once the mask was securely on my face, Echo instructed me to take a few deep breaths to make sure the air was flowing properly. I felt a weird tingling feeling going down my throat, but I figured it was just the filtered air, it was likely this gas mask had been used a lot, but Echo explained that the filter constantly cleaned itself so there would be no contaminants from the last person who wore it.

"Okay, pull your hood up, and let's go. Stay close to me," Echo instructed. "Juliette, you walk alongside me so it looks like you're escorting me."

"Right." Juliette nodded and followed Echo towards the door of the library. "Come on, Andy."

I had to take a moment to get used to walking around with this gas mask on my face. I pulled up my hoodie to try to hide my face as much as possible. I walked over to Juliette and Echo. Echo pulled his hoodie up as well.

"Keep your head down too, it shows signs of submission," Echo instructed. "Except you, Juliette, you look like you'd be higher up in Danny's chain of command and your core is pretty strong."

I nodded in response.

Juliette giggled a little. "I feel like I'm going through royal etiquette classes again. 'Keep your back straight and chin up high to show your royal status!'. I actually miss those classes a little…"

I felt Chad feeling amused, and almost had a sense of… approval? I wasn't sure about that second emotion.

Juliette opened the door, and we headed out of the safety of the library.

---

ChloeTheKitsune: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': Glad you enjoyed the chapter, and yep! It's the floating eyeballs in robes!

Luna Lillyth: DarkFoxKit: Yup, it's also fun to screw with our characters. :3

Jewel moonstone: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': It's the Observants, but yeah, they really do need to loosen up.

DP-Marvel94: Darkzdragon 'Onyx': I mean… wouldn't you think Andy was a clone if you had only ever known Danny? Add to the fact that those close to Danny, at least most of them, know that Vlad has tried to clone Danny before? At the point in this world, Vlad has already tried cloning Danny.

DarkFoxKit: In this world, it's post Destabilized, but Phantom Planet never happened, because… I don't want it to. ^^' But yeah, at least Jazz knows what's up.

Mana: DarkFoxKit: Ah, okay. It was a reference in a way, because they think Andy might be a clone of Danny's after recognizing his voice as Danny's, or at least similar to Danny's voice. I mean have you ever heard twins speak before? Their voices are usually pretty similar to each other. Not all twins, I know, but Danny and Andy are one of those. And this is post Destabilized, so Vlad already tried cloning Danny at this point in time in the world. It hasn't happened yet for Andy though, so he was confused.

Don't worry, the Observants didn't play a huge part here. They'll be playing a bigger role when Andy goes back to his world. But for now, they were mostly used as a plot device. XP We also didn't want the Observants to overstay their welcome.

What stories? Did you mean when they have a rushed ending? ^^' Again, would appreciate it if you were a little more specific with these things.

The graduation probably would've been a much better ending than Phantom Planet honestly. Kim Possible ended with graduation and it felt pretty satisfying. I don't know if we would end it there ourselves, but we'll likely show the graduation too. I mean college years would also be interesting.

The Wisps are likely inspired by Wisps you see on TV. For me, they were inspired by Mortified, a very long Danny Phantom fanfiction I've been following.

Oh, we'll be expanding on the Ghost Zone, don't worry. Even Butch admitted to there being more to the Ghost Zone than what was seen on the show. That opens the door for a lot of possibilities. You have a lot of ideas I see. We may or may not include some of them, it depends on what we feel like doing by the time we start having the boys explore the Ghost Zone more. Also, the fairies flirting with Danny… yeah, that is very likely to happen. XD

Thanks for the ideas. Hope to hear from you again soon.